[Mallrat]

Everyone here seems to love the 12 inch Powerbook and no one seems to mind the heat?

My ibook is cool as can be... and I woudl consider a 12 inch powerbook if the heat issue, well wasn't an issue.

does it really not get that hot, or is that just what people say to make themselves feel better about their purchase?

[Wesson]

i do not find it a problem at all. well considering i owned some tibooks as well......

[docholiday]

Unless you use the PB continuously for several hours, you won't really notice the heat problem. My sister has one, and it gets uncomfortably hot when it sits on her table for many hours, directly touching the table surface.
What I would recommend is that if you are planning on using it full time in one place: get an iCurve or similar stand... that will prevent the PB from running hot...

[Mastrap]

Originally posted by daredevil:
Everyone here seems to love the 12 inch Powerbook and no one seems to mind the heat?

My ibook is cool as can be... and I woudl consider a 12 inch powerbook if the heat issue, well wasn't an issue.

does it really not get that hot, or is that just what people say to make themselves feel better about their purchase?

The heat isn't an issue, at least not after 10.2.5. It's warmer than an iBook but its not a problem.

You don't own one, so why do you assume that the people who do are not telling the truth about it?

[The Placid Casual]

Not a serious issue for me either...

After few hours use things can get hot to the touch, but the 'big' fan comees on and sorts things out.

I use an external mouse also (MX700 very cool too), which means I only have to touch the keyboard when I type.

Overall, the general sweetness of the machine out weighs the heat issue in every way... I only bought the 12" as a 'tide over' until the 970 PM or the 15" PB came out, however I like it so much that I won't be buying anything else for a good while if things continue as they are!

It's been the best Mac I've had for years... Heat? Meh.

Peace,

Marc

[wallinbl]

Mine gets warmer on the left than on the right, but not too warm. No warmer than any Dell I've owned (or the one Gateway I had). I've never heard the fan come on.

[marumari]

I have to agree - my 12" Powerbook doesn't really get that hot. The only time it gets too hot is when it sits on my mattress. At that point, it is too hot to pick up and set on your lap - but not too hot to still use on the mattress. When it is sitting on a table, it gets warm when it is charging, but nothing too bad at all. Certainly a lot cooler than most (non-ULV) PC laptops that I've used.

[Shaddim]

No major heat issues here either. It gets pretty warm aftre rendering for a couple hours, but
I don't think it's uncomfortable or "too" hot.

[juanpacolopez]

Originally posted by wallinbl:
Mine gets warmer on the left than on the right, but not too warm. No warmer than any Dell I've owned (or the one Gateway I had). I've never heard the fan come on.

Preach it about the windows laptops!

I heard quite a few people complain that the tiBook 1ghz got "too hot" and "too noisy" after extended operation before I bought it... you know what? After 3-5 hours of DVD encoding.. with the fan on full blast... it is both:

1) significantly cooler than ANY windows laptop I've ever used, w/ the exception of a Sony VAIO subnote I used once (but it was also a crusoe chip, and therefore not suitable for much heavy lifting).

2) quieter by a factor of 5 or 6 than ANY windows laptop I've used (try taking a brand new thinkpad and letting Premiere render some video for a couple hours... damn thing sounds like a wind tunnel).

I don't have a 12" myself, but unless it's significantly hotter/louder than a 1ghz tiBook (which I can't imagine it is) you're still ahead of the curve by quite some margin.

[hamiltondj]

I bought one of the very first 12" PB's and it got really hot. The 10.2.5 update did not seem to affect it.

However, I had to send the PB in to apple for repair. During the repair, I essentially was given a brand new unit (just about everything important was replaced - the case, the logic board).

The "updated" PB really has no heat issues. This is consistant with some stuff I've read on the boards that later manufacturing runs of the 12" PB have reduced the heat problem.

Yes, it still gets a bit warm sometimes, but a stand or a "cool pad" fixes that problem. Its not much hotter than my PC laptop at work.

[mosch]

Originally posted by daredevil:
Everyone here seems to love the 12 inch Powerbook and no one seems to mind the heat?

My ibook is cool as can be... and I woudl consider a 12 inch powerbook if the heat issue, well wasn't an issue.

does it really not get that hot, or is that just what people say to make themselves feel better about their purchase?

In reduced performance mode, it never gets uncomfortably hot. You can use it directly on your lap for many hours, no problem.

In regular mode, you wouldn't want it directly on your lap, but it's not a problem to type on or anything.

Honestly, I haven't a clue why people are complaining so much about it, unless there was an early batch that was a lot worse than the current ones, or something.

[Angus_D]

Try resetting the PMU. Mine was a bit warm when I got it, I did that and now the fan seems to come on more readily than it used to. Then again, I did this about 2 days after purchasing, so I'm not really sure if I'm just imagining it or not. At any rate, it's not unbearably hot, just cosily warm.

[daniel999]

I am a totally newbi in Mac....so correct me if I am wrong~

Can I say the heat issue is because of the material of Powerbook? Because I know that it is made of Aluminium which has a low heat capicity which means its a good heat conductor whereas other PCs wouldn't use it. Instead they use plastics or metal alloy which is a worse heat conductor. The CPU of the computer get very hot (hotter then you can imagine) as soon as it is turned on. (I know this because once I turn on the computer without installing the CPU fan, I turn it off immediately and when I try to touch the CPU, I got my finger burnt). So instead of going through the fan, some of the heat choose to escape from the case of the computer. So can I say the aluminium case of 12" Powerbook actually help to cool down the computer? i.e. the heat doesnt really matter.

This is my theorey. I never own a Powerbook, so I am just guessing using the Physics I know.

[howieh123]

I bought mine about 3 months ago and it gets hot when you are pushing a lot of CPU/GPU intensive operations. But I will concur with one of the other responses, the benefits outweigh the heat issue. The Keyboard/form factor/ports on the side/Graphic Performance/rigidness/cool factor -- the 12" is definitely the best notebook Apple has produced.

[stef_pe4]

Hi,
this is the first message that i post in this forum and i would really be happy if you can help me.
I just bought a 12" PowerBook, 640MB of Ram and 40 GB of hard disk. Since the very first time i started using it i noticed that the left part of it (next to the touch pad) becomes REALLY hot!It becomes so hot that i can't put my hand on it for more than 2 seconds.
Somebody told me that it was a kernel problem, so i updated it (osx 10.2.6) but nothing as changed.
Is there ANYTHING i can do to make it cooler?

thank you very much


ps. i am italian so please don't mind to my grammar mistakes.

[stef_pe4]

Ops, I forgot to say that it gets HOT even if i turn it on and i do NOTHING!

help!

thanks

Originally posted by stef_pe4:
Hi,
this is the first message that i post in this forum and i would really be happy if you can help me.
I just bought a 12" PowerBook, 640MB of Ram and 40 GB of hard disk. Since the very first time i started using it i noticed that the left part of it (next to the touch pad) becomes REALLY hot!It becomes so hot that i can't put my hand on it for more than 2 seconds.
Somebody told me that it was a kernel problem, so i updated it (osx 10.2.6) but nothing as changed.
Is there ANYTHING i can do to make it cooler?

thank you very much


ps. i am italian so please don't mind to my grammar mistakes.

[prolix]

is there a fan in the 12" powerbook? i've seen a couple people mention it but i've never had mine turn on. i didn't think there was one?

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by prolix:
is there a fan in the 12" powerbook? i've seen a couple people mention it but i've never had mine turn on. i didn't think there was one?

Yep there is. When heat reaches a certain level, it kicks in for a while and does a great job of cooling things down.

It usually happens on mine when I compile stuff, import Mp3s or sometimes watch DVDs for a long time...

Perhaps there is problem with some people's fans? this would certainly explain the heat issues I have heard about, but never experienced...

Peace,

Marc

*My powerbook is now very sadly for sale as I really need a 15" with DVIout . Details in the marketplace...*

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by stef_pe4:
Hi,
this is the first message that i post in this forum and i would really be happy if you can help me.
I just bought a 12" PowerBook, 640MB of Ram and 40 GB of hard disk. Since the very first time i started using it i noticed that the left part of it (next to the touch pad) becomes REALLY hot!It becomes so hot that i can't put my hand on it for more than 2 seconds.
Somebody told me that it was a kernel problem, so i updated it (osx 10.2.6) but nothing as changed.
Is there ANYTHING i can do to make it cooler?

thank you very much


ps. i am italian so please don't mind to my grammar mistakes.

I believe that the HD is under the left side of the keyboard, and that is what causes the heat...

However, for me, even after really prolonged use compiling and stuff my Alu never gets as hot as you describe.. Strange

[Cake]

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:
I believe that the HD is under the left side of the keyboard, and that is what causes the heat...

Yeah, the hard drive is what causes the heat.
Mine doesn't get too hot and I've yet to hear the fan kick in.

[abundrefo]

Hi,

The 12" 10.2.5 update is the first update on the 12" PowerBook, right?
What major adjustments were made?
Do you have any links about it?

Thanks.
Andre.

[crypt0]

Originally posted by Cake:


Yeah, the hard drive is what causes the heat.
Mine doesn't get too hot and I've yet to hear the fan kick in.

What's that empty spot under the right palm for? anything we can add there?

[crypt0]

Originally posted by crypt0:
What's that empty spot under the right palm for? anything we can add there?

ok, ignore me, i am a dumba$$, that's where the battery is